So far, John Lockwood has had only two customers for his new Internet-based business, yet lawmakers in California, 14 other states and Congress are moving to shut it down. Lockwood operates a website -- live-shot.com -- that for a few hundred dollars lets anyone with access to a computer shoot and kill a variety of animals roaming a fenced ranch in Texas. A rifle, video camera and computer are mounted on a stand at the ranch at a spot frequented by deer, antelope and sheep.

Just outside the center of this once-booming mill town, a towering slab of white stands as a quiet memorial to a part of the area's industrial history. But the 80-foot crescent-shaped wall of a now-defunct marble quarry also shares space with one of North America's unique geological structures.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to settle a lawsuit challenging the county's rejection of a massive gravel quarry near Santa Clarita. A lawyer for Cemex Inc., which hopes to create the mine, called the settlement a victory. But its effect on the project remained unclear: The settlement must still be approved by a federal judge, and no details will be made public until then.

The Shasta Lake City Council said it won't hire a lawyer to fight a proposed asphalt plant and quarry -- at least for now. Dozens of residents complained about the project at a council meeting Tuesday, saying that they want city officials to challenge the environmental impact report of the Goat Ranch Quarry. Council members agreed that the report is flawed but said they would wait to see if Shasta County supervisors approve the plan before they fight it. City Atty.

Authorities identified a man fatally shot at an abandoned rock quarry in western Ventura County this week as Vincent David Gutierrez, 24, of Ventura, and urged anyone with information about the shooting to contact law enforcement. On Wednesday, a coroner's investigator said Gutierrez died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest. According to authorities, Gutierrez was shot about 2 p.m. Tuesday at the end of Rocklite Road in an unincorporated area.

A man was found shot Tuesday afternoon at an abandoned rock quarry in western Ventura County, and law enforcement officials are treating the incident as a homicide. Ventura Police Department officers responded to an emergency call about 1:50 p.m. and found the victim at the east end of Rocklite Road, not far from De Anza Middle School. Law enforcement officials declined to release the victim's name, age or residence.

Not everyone can find it. But everybody's probably seen it. That's Bronson Canyon for you, the hidden Hollywood landmark that has a rock-solid reputation as one of the city's most reliable movie backdrops. For generations everything from blockbuster hits to lead-bottomed duds have been filmed there. Old-fashioned Saturday matinee serials, high-tech sci-fi adventures and rough-and-tumble westerns all have unfolded against its jagged backdrop.

When South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles was recalled last month, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley issued a statement calling it "a victory for good government." Cooley had reason to celebrate -- his office's prosecution of Robles was cited as one of the key reasons to remove the 37-year-old political boss. But at the same time, Robles is a free man because Cooley's office could not convict him on charges of making terrorist threats against politicians.

A dynamite charge exploded prematurely at a limestone quarry, injuring two workers, one critically. The men, employees of Dyno Nobel Northeastern Region of Middlefield, Conn., had been preparing a controlled blast to break nearly 40,000 tons of limestone off a wall at the Hansen Aggregates East quarry in Jamesville, south of Syracuse. Kevin Deline, 44, who had been lowering explosives into the blast shaft, was in critical condition with head injuries.

The remains of four woolly rhinos found in a quarry in central England will provide important clues about the Ice Age, scientists said. The remains of the extinct mammals, which were found at Whitemoor Haye in Staffordshire, are among the most complete ever found in Britain. One had plant material in its teeth, providing clues to its diet, said Simon Buteux, director of the field archeology unit at the University of Birmingham.